Tuesday, June 26, 2012

EOTD - Bright Blue Eyelashes!


Here is another look I did with the MAC Zoom Lash colored mascaras! This look uses the blue mascara, Blue Charge. 

First, I prepped my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. Then I blended NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Horseradish, a minty green, all over my lid. I set this on the outer half of my lid with Mojo Spa loose eyeshadow in Garden Party, a shimmery minty green. In the crease I blended Urban Decay Haight, a bluish teal. I darkened the outer corner with the Balm The Mother-in-Law, a dusty navy blue. 

On my lower waterline, I used NYX Retractable Eye Liner in Gray and smudged it with the Balm The Mistress, a gunmetal gray. I also smoked out my top lash line a bit with The Mistress. 

Again I prepped my lashes by using a coat of the Step 1 white primer side of my Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions mascara. I finished with two coats of MAC Zoom Lash mascara in Blue Charge. 







NOTD - Glitter Gradient

I learned my lesson the last time I did a gradient, so I went to Walgreens and bought some of those soft makeup sponges! I used those when I did this fun glitter gradient!

I started with two coats of Ulta Peach Parfait, a coral jelly. Then, I used the makeup sponge to dab some of Milani Gems onto the tips of my nails. I found that I couldn't get the opacity of the glitter that I wanted near the very tips, so when I was done sponging I just used the Milani brush to fill in the gaps.

After the glitter dried, I did one more thin coat of Peach Parfait to do a jelly sandwich effect! I finished it up with a coat of Seche Vite fast drying top coat to smooth out the bumps.

I think this mani is totally adorable and reminds me of cupcake sprinkles!

Monday, June 25, 2012

EOTD - Pink and Purple

I got the limited edition Zoom Lash mascaras from MAC recently and I've been trying to figure out different ways to wear them! Here is a look I did with the purple mascara, Plum Reserve.

First as always I prepped my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Original. To start I blended Urban Decay Free Love eyeshadow, a peachy pink, all over the lid. Then I blended Urban Decay Woodstock, a bright shimmery fuchsia pink, into the crease. I accented the outer corner with MAC Passionate, a matte hot pink.

I lined my waterline with Urban Decay Rockstar, an eggplant purple eyeliner. I smudged that with Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister, a bright purple, and smudged a bit more Woodstock around the edges of that too. I highlighted my browbone and inner corner with Urban Decay Sin, a light peachy highlighter.

To finish, I coated my lashes with a coat of the Step 1 Primer side of my Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions mascara. If you want the colored mascara to be extra vibrant, or if you have naturally really dark eyelashes (jealous) then this step is important. Then I finished my lashes with two coats of MAC Zoom Lash mascara in Plum Reserve.

Would you wear colored mascara?


Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains!

New amazing Revlon lip product? Um, hello, SIGN ME UP!!! The beauty blogging world has been in a craze over the new Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains. I was lucky to find a completely stocked display of them at CVS a couple weeks ago, where I picked up three, but then a few days later when I decided I wanted a couple more colors, I've had to stalk them down between various Walgreens, CVS, and Ultas! Now I have all five colors that I want, and I'm totally happy!

All of the balm stains are super moisturizing and feel really nice on my lips. They are buildable in color, so you can have just a slight tint if you want, or you can make it really opaque and have the color pop. They do stain the lips fairly well, especially the darker colors like Sweetheart and Adore.

First up is Rendezvous, which is probably my favorite because hello it's ORANGE! It actually leans a bit coral-tinged too. I love it :)
Next up is Charm, a light peachy nude. This is the only one I'm not super crazy about. It applies a little streaky and collects in my lip lines. The stain color for this one is actually a dark pink color, not a light peachy color.
 Here is Honey, which is my next favorite. It's a mauvey-pink that is pretty close to my natural lip color. Perfect for everyday!
 This is Sweetheart, a bright hot pink. It's not fuchsia. This is a great option for a bright pink summer lip! The stain color on this one is BRIGHT pink!
Last I have Adore, a dark brick red with subtle golden shimmer. I should mention that all the other colors I have do not have shimmer. I love this one because it's difficult for me to pull off dark, vampy lip colors with my light coloring, and this is subtle yet still dark enough to make a statement.








So have you jumped on the Kissable Balm Stain train yet?! If not, what are you waiting for?!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Nanny Nail-Art

The 9 year old girl I nanny for, K, is totally awesome and reminds me a lot of myself when I was her age. She's very creative and always has her nose in a book. She always enjoys seeing what I come up with on my nails, and occasionally I'll do hers for her.

The other day I jumped on the magnetic nail polish bandwagon when I picked up Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color in Silver Elements from Walgreens. The magnetic trend hadn't really peaked my interest, but it was less than ten bucks so I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

I tried it out later back at home and IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!!! The design ended up being pretty cool but the best part by far was peeking under the magnet to see it doing its thing to the polish. It was like magic. I knew this would be something that K would be totally fascinated by, so the next day I told her I'd do her nails for her. Her reaction after seeing the first magnetized nail was pure shock and awe. It was hilarious. After every single nail she just kept saying "How does it DO that!?!"


I didn't get a proper photo of my nails with this one, but here's a photo of K's and my hands with our matching nails!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Skittle Gradient!

I have been in such a nail rut the past couple weeks! I have been wanting to attempt a gradient mani for a while now but always assumed it would be time-consuming and difficult. Then, I checked out this tutorial by The Nailasaurus and realized how easy it was! I also saw this mani while browsing through the Tumblr blog Fuck Yeah Nail Art and I loved the color scheme, so I decided to translate it into a skittle gradient mani!

First, I did two coats of OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?, a light putty color, as my base color. I did it, yes, at midnight, and let it fully dry overnight before starting the gradient. Following Nailasaurus' tutorial, I started on my thumb with Essie Tart Deco, a neon coral-pink. On my index finger I used Essie Mint Candy Apple, a bright minty aqua, and on my middle finger I used Essie Smooth Sailing, a shimmery cornflower blue. Looking at my finished mani, I wish I had a brighter, more pastel cornflower blue because I don't think Smooth Sailing really goes with the other two colors as well. I repeated the pattern for all the rest of my nails.

Sammy's tutorial is SUPER easy and FAST! I think it only took me about 15 minutes to do all of my nails. The gradient came out a lot smoother than I thought it would too. The only thing I will do different next time is use a different sponge. I decided to do this gradient on a whim so I didn't have the nice soft makeup sponges that she recommends. All I had was a really rough exfoliating sponge that, as I'm sure you can see, left me with a bunch of little fibers all stuck to my nails! I will definitely pick up some makeup sponges at Walgreens in the next couple days and you can expect to see a bunch more gradient manis in the future!



Friday, June 8, 2012

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard

Here's a picture of a nail polish that has been all over the blogs lately, but I still must share it because I'm surprised at how much I love it! This is OPI Just Spotted the Lizard from the latest Spiderman collection, which is kind of a weird movie for a nail polish brand to team up with (although I guess it's not much weirder than the Hunger Games).

I picked this up because it's a known dupe for Chanel Peridot, that much-sought-after polish that came out last year. I thought Peridot looked cool, but I would not have paid $25 for it. So when it came out for $8, I decided, why not. I surprisingly LOVE IT! The green-gold duochrome effect is so mesmerizing in person. Although my boyfriend kind of ruined it for me a little bit when he was like, "Hey! Green and gold, just like [our high school] colors!"



















P.S. Does anyone else think of this clip from Friends when they hear the word Spiderman? I love Friends!